It turns out that adopting a dog is a lot like dating, only without the “getting-to-know-you” cup of coffee. Those are the findings of a 2019 study by Samantha Cohen, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Virginia, who led the research on dog adoption as a doctoral student at Indiana University (IU) with the help of Peter Todd, MPhil, PhD, professor of cognitive science, psychology, and informatics at IU.